The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Coronation Merchant Bank, Abubakar Jimoh, has listed balance sheet restructuring as one of the major challenges faced by corporate banks in the country.

However, for banks to come out of such challenge, Jimoh said commercial banks needs to raise more equity instead on relying more on loans.Speaking at the unveiling ceremony of the brand in Lagos on Tuesday, Jimoh said there is a clear market demand for more sophisticated banking services from Nigeria’s top-tier corporates, which poses a challenge to its customers.

He said: “Merchant banks are mainly investment banks, you are allowed to advice corporate banks on how they can address their financial challenges.” According to him, the investment bank will focus on bringing world-class advisory services, accompanied by innovative products and services to the sub-region; deepen and broaden economic growth over the next decade, whilst remaining committed to its values of strong governance and transparency.

”When we started in 2015 as a merchant bank, we set a vision for our ourselves that we would become African premier investment bank. Our mission is to be the engine room of Africa’s financial market.”

Coronation Merchant Bank Limited (‘Coronation MB’) is an emerging merchant banking franchise with industry-leading financial stability indicators designed to fill the gap of a long-underserved market segment, seeking to address the need for long term capital across key sectors of the economy.

Following the approval of Associated Discount House’s (ADH) application for a merchant banking licence, the company transitioned to a new entity with a new corporate strategy, brand and objectives.

With its “A” rating from Agusto & Co., it creates a valid testament to the Bank’s strong capitalisation, good liquidity profile and robust risk management framework evidenced by the zero Non Performing Loan ratio as at December 2016.